mber of the men
the first time they got ashore, so that the grog-sellers, lodging-house
keepers, and Jews, benefited chiefly by that. The ships which had
suffered went into Portsmouth harbour to refit; but as the _Culloden_
had no honourable wounds to show, we were kept at Spithead, and no leave
was granted.

The men grumbled and growled, complaining that they were ill-treated,
and that it was not their fault that they had not taken a more active
part in the battle. The captain and officers best knew the reason why,
and they also were out of sorts, for they heard it whispered that they
had shown the white feather. They consequently, being out of temper,
bullied us, and we were kept at work, exercising at the guns, and making
and shortening sail.

Our former captain being removed, Captain Thomas Trowbridge, well-known
as a good officer, took command of the ship, and we put to sea for a
cruise.

The state of the crew, however, had become too bad to be amended in a
hurry. Discontent of all sorts prevailed on board.

As we lay at Spithead, one day Hagger came to me and said:

"Will, I don't like the look of things, there's something going to
happen. The men complain that the provisions are bad, and we don't get
fresh meat and vegetables from shore as we ought, and there's no leave
given, and flogging goes on just as it did before, and that our present
captain is as severe as the last. There's a knot of them got together,
and they are plotting something. That fellow, Charles Trickett, is at
the bottom of it, though he takes good care not to be too forward. They
have won a good many men over, and they tried to win me, but I'm not
going to run my head into a noose to make bad worse."

"I know all you tell me," I replied, "except that I was not aware there
was any plotting going on. No one has spoken to me, and Trickett is the
last person to do so, though he would be ready to get me into a scrape
if he could. I don't think they would be mad enough to attempt anything
when they must know what would be the upshot. The leaders will be
taken, and either flogged round the fleet, or hung at the yard-arm. I'm
glad that you've kept clear, Dick."

Next day a man I had seldom spoken to came up while I was writing a
letter to my wife, and asked me to put my name to a paper which he said
wanted a witness, and he could not find any man just then who could sign
his name. He was one of the Lord Mayor's men, but notwithsta